


Vaguely In Love

by njhft_mgc



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Parents, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artist Steve Rogers, Fluff, Kinda, Love at First Sight, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Steve is a Good Parent, Stucky - Freeform, Teacher Bucky Barnes, omf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 09:25:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5863717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/njhft_mgc/pseuds/njhft_mgc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>kinda my own prompt but this is so common very sorry – Person A has a kid from a previous relationship but is v v v single, Person B is the kid’s teacher and let the fun begin --- </p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>Steve is a single dad who seems perfectly fine being alone - And in comes the mysterious English teacher to change all of that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vaguely In Love

**Author's Note:**

> i'M SORRY THIS IS LIKE ONE OF THE LONGEST THINGS I'VE EVER WRITTEN AND IT MAY SEEM KINDA MESSY BUT THIS MAY BE THE SWEETEST THING I'VE WRITTEN AS WELL - hope you like it omg

“David, it’s time for school! Get your butt down here right now.” Steve yelled up the stairs, arms on his hips as he listened for some sort of movement upstairs, groaning loudly as he begun to trudge up the stairs.

“Coming, dad!” He heard when he reached the top of the stairs, looking to his right. A door swung open and out came his dishevelled yet very awake looking son, David Rogers. The latter rub his hands through his hair in exasperation, shooting his father a quick scowl and before Steve could respond, David ran towards the bathroom, laughing at the top of his lungs.

“Geez, you’re gonna give me a heartattack, keep it quiet.” Steve half mused, a large smile residing on his face and he descended back down the staircase, resuming his previous activity of making the two of them lunches. Steve was a single dad, had been for years. David’s mother was an alcoholic and more of the “abrasive” type, so when her and Steve divorced when David was 8, Steve won custody pretty easily.

Now David was nearly 15 and Steve was still kind of young, so any opportunity David had, he’d try to set his dad up with the next single person he could find.

 

“So, my teacher wants to speak with you at Parent-Teacher Day, if you’re free.” David piped up, dashing into the kitchen, fully dressed with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder, and snatched a piece of toast of his dad’s breakfast platter. Steve raised a questioning eyebrow, biting into his own buttered toast and leaning his back against the counter, staring his son down with paternal concern.

“What the hell did you do now? Break a door? A window? Gosh, I’m bankrupt as it is, Dave.” The other just grinned brightly, nudging his parent in the side as he finished off the toast, slinging the other arm of his bag so it sat securely on his back, moving to kiss his dad’s cheek and walking to the front door.

“No and no. I swear that I didn’t do anything! It’s today afterschool, okay? Don’t forget, please. I think this teacher actually doesn’t hate me, so seeing my hunky dad will for sure make him pass me.” Steve just shook his head, chuckling lowly as he walked David from the house’s porch to the sidewalk.

“Stop trying to set me up with your teacher, I’m fine. Now go have a good day, I’ll be there afterschool.”

“Promise?” David yelled over his shoulder while he walked in another direction. Steve leaned against the wooden fence and waved his hand at his kid, nodding quickly with it.

“Promise, now go before you’re late! Love you, Davie.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

 

 ~~~

 

Steve parked the car carefully, looking around to make sure he wouldn’t hit any high schoolers. When the car was parked and stopped, he took out the keys from the ignition, got out, and locked the door.

“Dad? Wow, you actually came.” A voice quipped from behind Steve as he walked to the front entrance of the school. He turned around and smiled as David ran towards him, waving to some friends and yelling something about going online to shoot some motherfuckers later. Steve scoffed lightly, ready to scold the young kid on his language but stopped himself the moment he felt David envelope him in a crushing hug. His eyebrows knitted together in slight confusion, glancing around them then patting the boy’s back a few times.

“Thought you were too old for the whole hugging at school thing?” Steve said, a thoughtful smile on his face as he let David guide him, who was cackling throughout the halls.

“I’m just glad you actually came today, was thinking you may have forgotten.” Steve nodded his head and looked around, not answering his son for a minute while he assessed the school grounds. It was a large campus, kids still hanging around even if the last bell had rung. Steve hadn’t been in a high school for a while, not since he and David first moved to the area a while back. And before that, probably when Steve himself was still in high school.

As they walked through the school hallways, Steve examined the kids, the ones who said hi to David, the ones who shot Steve a little amused look, even the group of older looking girls who would stare at Steve, talk between them, and then giggle uncontrollably. He understood why, he wasn’t ugly at all. But Steve just smiled in their direction, all innocent and eye-crinkling. That definitely caused a few to blush and smile back shyly.

“Please stop flirting with my schoolmates, Dad.” David sighed out, stopping in front of a classroom after a couple more strides, giving his dad a death glare. Steve just shrugged his shoulders, glancing into the classroom they stood in front of. He could see the teacher sitting at his desk, back turned to the door as he discussed with another child and their parent, the par beginning to stand up.

“Good talking with you, Mrs. Thompson. Hope Teddy here gets that homework in on time. Right, Ted?” The teacher’s voice sang out, causing Steve to blink a couple times to take in the melodic tone. It was like music to Steve’s ears, but he was quickly shaken out of that trance as David poked his arm a couple times.

“Our turn, come on.” The two of them entered the class after waiting a moment for the other family to pass by them, and Steve’s eyes immediately went to the colourful walls, filled from top to bottom with beautiful paintings and drawings, and he could tell they weren’t professional. Still magnificent.

“Oh, hey there, Dave. Who’s this you got here, your brother?” This had Steve looking in the direction the voice had emerged from, a bewildered look on his face. The other male had a calm smile on his face, leaning against his table with his right arm as support while looking Steve up and down. He had his hair back in a messy ponytail, small strands still framing his sculpted face.

“Nah, this is my dad. Dad, this is Mr. Barnes.” There was a small interval of silence as the two grownups stared at each other, both pretty confused. But Steve stuck out a hand towards the teacher, usual toothy grin taking up his features.

“Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Barnes. I’m David’s father, he talks about you quite a lot.” The latter took Steve’s hand in his, shaking it a couple times and cleared his throat.

“Apologies for the earlier mistake, Mr. Rogers. I’m his homeroom and English teacher. Here, take a seat the two of you.” Mr. Barnes guided them to the chairs on the right side of his desk, seating himself in his spinning chair behind it.

“Not a problem, it happens sometimes.” Steve mentioned, swinging one leg over the other when he sat down, looking over to where David was, offering to take his bag in a silent gesture and David handed it over easily. Steve put it to lean against the closest wall to him, returning his attention back to the teacher. Steve took a bit of time to examine the young teacher some more, noticing the kind of patchy stuble that helped trace the sharp cheek and jaw bones. His eyes lingered lower, the red t-shirt he was sporting had a little picture of Leonardo da Vinci but painted in the style of the Mona Lisa, a little chuckle escaping Steve at that. Art jokes were his weakness, being a painter himself. But something else caught the eye of the male.

Mr. Barnes didn’t have a left arm, or a complete one at that. It sorta stopped after his shoulder, a nub barely poking out from the left t-shirt sleeve.

“If you’re wondering about the arm, Mr. Rogers, happened in college, car accident, and I usually wear a prosthetic. Don’t want to scare the kids, right?” Steve ripped his eyes away from the arm and looked at Mr. Barnes, face flushing in embarrassment.

“S-sorry, just… I knew a guy in college like you. I’m sorry again for staring, must be uncomfortable… Anyway, uh, about David, yeah?” Steve rambled, scratching the back of his head and smiling, trying to ease the tension. He heard David sigh next to him, felt him sinking down in his chair and knocking his knee against his father’s, signalling he was being silly.

“No no, it’s okay. But, let’s get to the reason we’re here. I promise Dave here didn’t do anything wrong, but I was wondering… How’s the stability of the home? As his teacher, I must understand that to see how we can help David do his best.”

Steve tilted his head to David, humming slightly before nodding gently. “Home is pretty stable, aside from me being a little busy recently with work, so David’s been kept up in his room doing, what I hope to be, homework.”

Mr. Barnes nodded, taking a pen and notepad off his desk and scribbling some stuff down.

“And what about his mother?”

Steve cleared his throat, David following suit and shifting in his chair, slightly uncomfortable.

“We got divorced when David was about 8, so she’s not really in the picture much. Just David and I now.” The other male across from Steve nodded understandingly, scratching that down as well.

“May I ask what you do for work, Mr. Rogers?” Mr. Barnes hummed out, staring intently into Steve’s ocean blue eyes, which were wide in slight interest.

Mr. Barnes noticed how blown out Steve’s pupils got when he stared at him, causing the teacher to smile slyly and lean a bit closer to Steve, looking between him and David. He could see so many similarities between the father and son duo, it was a bit unnerving. David had the same sandy blonde hair, eyes a bit more of a dark blue but still quite entrancing, and he was pretty much the same height as his dad as well. Personality wise, they seemed to be on the same page a lot. Cool, calm, and slightly awkward.

“I’m a freelance painter, I usually end up painting pictures for rich art buffs. Pays the bills, so why the heck not?” Steve ran a hand through his messy hair, seeing a couple paint specks fall from it to land on the floor and his lap.

“Ah, guessing that’s why you’ve been busy lately, new project. Well, I see where David gets his artistic ability from. He’s a bright kid, and a lot of the paintings on this wall here are from him. I just suggest he be a bit more focused in class, his attention tends to drift away and he daydreams. But I understand that, for sure. I disappear in my own mind when I feel creative, and he does know what he’s talking about most of the time.” David scoffed a bit, but the two adults could tell he was a bit flustered at the praise.

“I’ve never been one to feel the need to focus on the real world all too much, Mr. Barnes.”

Mr. Barnes laughed softly, leaning back in his chair and depositing his notes and pen back onto the table, speaking towards the both of them, “I feel ya there, David. But how are you gonna get everything down when you blank out through half of it?”

Steve nodded at the words from his son’s _hot as fuck_ teacher, and even though he understood the words, he felt as if he wasn’t really listening. He watched the way Mr. Barnes lips would open and close with each formed word, and he couldn’t help his head drifting off to imagine those lips elsewhere, doing other things than teaching kids about Shakespeare and how to write paragraphs. Steve dragged his tongue along his bottom lip briefly, not even trying to listen to the conversation between David and Mr. Barnes.

“Mr. Rogers? Is something the matter?” Steve blinked once, twice, three times. He cleared his throat and sat straight, adjusting his shirt slightly to cover a little _something_ he didn’t notice forming in his jeans.

“Everything is a-okay! What did you say?”

“Mr. Barnes was just talking about maybe one-on-one tutoring for anything I missed. That okay with you?” David asked, giving his dad a wonder-filled look.

Steve alternated his eyes between Mr. Barnes and Dave, still confused to a certain degree but he shrugged his shoulders anyway.

“I don’t see why not. After school good?” Steve mentioned, a small smile resting on his soft features and Mr. Barnes forgot what he was going to say for a minute there, shaking his head ever so softly to shake away any wandering thoughts.

“After school is always good, but I don’t want to take up time here, they try to close the school up quick. So is it alright if I impose myself at your house?”

David turned toward his dad, the excitement evident in his eyes, how was Steve supposed to say no to that? And besides that, having this man in his house would give Steve a better opportunity to get to know the mysterious, fun, and kinda flirty man. Who may or may not have been his son’s favourite teacher, but whatever.

“Sounds great, you’re welcome to come over.”

 

 

“Okay, Steven. Let’s try to make the house look presentable.” Steve muttered to himself, looking around the unorganised living room. The entranceway was what he first started to clean earlier that day, tackling all the mismatch shoes laying around and the broken umbrella Steve kept near the mudroom door just for the aesthetics. Now he was working on the living room/dining area, much messier than the rest of the house. It was where Steve tended to draw and plan out his next plans, so the work bench sort of corner was a complete wreck.

“No point trying to save that..” But he did shift the couch back to the middle of the room, replacing where he had spare easels laying out on the floor. Steve also decided to drag away the cheap mattress David would bring to the workspace on the days Steve would stay up well past a normal time. The couch took a toll on his aging back after a while, so the mattress was much needed.

After that was hidden away upstairs in the spare bedroom, he wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow, searching for anything else that needed clean up. The two never usually had guests over, just the occasional buyer and Steve would tend to bring them to the basement, or his actual art studio. And David invited friends over sometimes, though he was a bit too shy to make all too many. So any friends he had brought over, Steve found them easy enough to get to know and like. They didn’t mind a mess. But this was David’s teacher coming over, who Steve had definitely been crushing on for the past couple weeks after the parent-teacher conference.

Steve gave the living room one more once over, deciding on moving the guitar and stand to where their small piano sat in the opposite corner of the room. Above the little music area was a painting Steve had done years ago, maybe before David was even born. It was a simple piece of a woman, back turned to the seeker, long dark brown hair travelling down her poised spine. It was styled like a trail in a forest, and Steve often looked to it as his happy young days, where his ex-wife was madly in love with him and they lived simple and peaceful lives. He kept it even after they separated, because it was apart of their extremely beautiful past and never failed to put a smile on his face. Steve reached up and straightened the weathering portrait, letting his fingers linger on each brush stroke of the olive green blouse she wore, the details of her wavy waist-length hair, the pale blue background Steve had painted in to match his ex-wife’s gorgeous eyes, pastel to the eye.

He barely noticed the knock at the door, the turn of a key and the sound of footsteps and mild chatter filling the house until he was greeted by his son’s rambunctious voice calling out.

“Dad, you home?” And the quieter comment following suit, probably directed to his guest, “The house is unusually clean, so he’s home.”

Steve turned away from the painting, rubbing his hands over his face a few times and inhaled deeply, eyes shifting to where two bodies entered the living room. David noticed where his father stood, acknowledging the painting but Steve’s attention was moved to the beautiful masterpiece standing next to him, hands stuffed in his dark blue jean pockets and looking just as messy as usual. Mr. Barnes seemed to not making his hair look presentable, but the subtle bedheadish hair he sported looked as if he’d been running his fingers through the luscious strands all day, giving up mid-day and tying it up in a careless bun.

“Hey there, Mr. Rogers. It’s been a while, so how are you?” Mr. Barnes spoke out, extending a friendly hand to greet Steve, the politeness lacing his husky yet still an octave higher than Steve’s voice made him uncomfortable. They were in his house, not in school and Steve wished to get as casual as he can with the hunky teacher.

“Doing pretty good, been cleanin’ all day. And, probably shoulda mentioned this earlier, but you don’t have to call me Mr. Rogers all the time.” Steve said matter-of-factly, the surprised expression Mr. Barnes had on filled Steve with this new found excitement, _confidence_ if he could even say that.

“I’ll call you by your first name if you tell me where you’re from.” It always seemed that Mr. Barnes liked speaking in such vague terms, always leaving Steve to wonder why he was asking such strangely specific questions. But he didn’t care, he wouldn’t care if Mr. Barnes asked for his entire sex life story, from start to finish. He’d give it up in a heartbeat just to continue talking to the intriguing man.

David looked between the two grownups, it wasn’t even hard to tell that they were flirting. “I’ll be up in my room getting my homework set up, so take your time, kiddos.” And with that, he was adjusting his bag on his shoulders and dashing out the room, the grand sounds of the creaking stairs all that was left of them. Steve just hoped he wouldn’t be listening in on their conversations, David cared a little too much when it came to his dad talking with other people.

“I would wonder why you’re asking, but I’m not in the thinking mood. I’m from Brooklyn, New York. Thought the obnoxiously New Yorker accent woulda tipped that hat. Steve, by the way.” Steve said, purposely making his accent more evident by exaggerating on some syllables. Mr. Barnes’ face shone at the new piece of information, coughing once.

“Really? Well, I guess it’s time for me to call you Steve. Name’s James but friends call me Bucky, and I also grew up in Brooklyn. That’s why I was curious, just needed clarification.”

_James. James, James, Jamesssss._

Steve let the name tumble through his mind, then considered the nickname he was offered. But James also said only friends call him that name. Should he use it?

“Bucky, I like it. Rolls off the tongue pretty well, I can hear a very angry Brooklyn man yelling that from across the street, very pleasing.” Steve joked, but he could really picture that, he could also picture him saying Bucky in other situations, some not very appropriate.

Steve could tell Bucky was tired of standing, shifting from foot to foot and Steve quickly gestured him towards the couch perfectly centered in the room. Bucky took him up on the offer, striding towards the seat and flopping down casually, nearly moaning out as he sunk into the deep loveseat. It wasn’t the biggest couch in existence and definitely not the most comfortable one, but for some reason, as Steve descended down next to Bucky, it felt right. It felt so airy and nice, not to mention the dip Steve made tipped James closer to him, knocking shoulders and the two men made eye contact.

“S-sorry, the couch is just, uh, really soft.” Bucky sputtered out, face tinting an elegant shade of pink and Steve couldn’t stop himself from leaning back, causing the other male to edge closer.

There was some silence, before James began to shift and sit straight, but he quickly missed the warmth that Steve radiated.

“I should be tending to David, sorry for invading your space. But… not to sound creepy or too philosophical and I also pray to God we’re on the same wave length here, anyway! But, when I first saw you, I was immediately entranced by you. Yep, I sound crazy, but hear me out. There was something special about you, Steve Rogers. You were different, yet you knew that and didn’t care. I aspire to be like that, I see it in David as well. That’s why he’s such a bright kid. He’s got a kinda crazy kinda eccentric but really cool dad. I find it beyond interesting, so I really hope I haven’t scared you off yet. I…”

Bucky trailed off with his tangent, staring at Steve for a solid minute before inhaling deeply, shutting his eyes, “I want to get to know you more, but I don’t want to impose myself on you.”

Steve stayed silent after the confession, trying to understand it to the best of his ability and by the time the look of despair settled on James’ face, he’d gotten it.

And that’s about when he began to laugh. Bucky looked as distraught as ever, giving up and he began to stand. Steve stopped him lightening quick, right arm reaching out to grip at Bucky’s.

“I’m sorry, but the way you said that confused me beyond belief. But honestly, James Barnes, you had me at hello. I’m not saying much here, but the moment you smiled at me I knew you were something else. And I haven’t felt that feeling since… well, since David’s mother told me she loved me.”

Bucky gave a short nod, sitting back down next to the other and attempted to sort out his feelings. It hadn’t even been that long since he’d met this tall blonde stranger, who was the father of one of his students. Bucky shouldn’t even be having these thoughts, but it was so hard to keep him out of his mind.

He took this moment of silence to glance around the room, take in what he could before the moment was interrupted. He noticed the piano in the corner of the room, imagined a younger Steve Rogers try to teach his small child how to play. The guitar next to it looked more tattered, showing it was in it’s later years.

But the painting that resided above both of these talents had him speechless. It wasn’t difficult for Bucky to see it was of Steve’s ex-wife. He pushed away the small pang in his heart and focused on the beautifully detailed structure to the painting. It was obviously older, the coffee brown frame was lighter around the sides in some places and there was barely any discolouration to the artwork, but Bucky had fucking degrees in this sort of stuff, he tends to notice the impossible. Steve could see the fascination in the man he was crushing on’s face and he let out a chuckle, deep from the back of his throat.

“Painted that back in my last year of college, when I first met Marie. We were young and in love, and I think she was pregnant with David. I just had to document it, I remember the day so vividly, it still kinda hurts.” Bucky smiled gently at the anecdote, eyes never leaving the piece.

“When you proposed to her?”

“Yeah, actually. I had popped the question minutes before I started the painting, she was so happy. We both were, happy and pretty dumb. I keep it to remind me of the happier days, but… I feel just as happy now, with you here and sharing stories and knowing my son is upstairs, healthy and taken care of. Maybe I should paint you soon.”

They both laughed under their breaths, head turning to stare into each other’s eyes. Steve’s laughter died down quickly, completely enthralled with how alluring Bucky’s irises were. They weren’t as dark as Steve’s but there were these green-brown rings that surrounded the pupil and Steve could see himself looking into them forever, or even better, painting them. There was such deep attraction and admiration behind the eyes that if he didn’t look away right now, he’d be done for.

But Steve didn’t look away, and neither did Bucky. They just leaned closer, taking in the warmth of the other and Steve’s right hand raised to rest on Bucky’s cheek, guiding down slowly and Buck’s eyes followed the movements, the feeling of rough yet oh so gentle fingers running along the side of his neck, moving down towards his left shoulder. Usually, this would make Bucky uncomfortable, anxious even. He didn’t feel that at all, even as Steve’s strong hands rub up and down his not-so-there arm. He felt _calm_. Like this was meant to be, the touches felt so natural.

Bucky looked back up into Steve’s eyes, and the second their gazes met again, Steve surged forward to capture the teacher’s lavish lips against his own. Steve thought about that expression of fireworks and proper sparks and the whole gag. He used to think that was a load of crap, but he was for sure proven wrong. _Electrical_ was the only word either of them could think to describe the kiss. It wasn’t even all that long or rushed, but the passion behind it overwhelmed Steve to the point of blanking out.

And before either of them knew it, Steve had nudged Bucky to lie on his back, Bucky obliged and wrapped his right arm around Steve’s shoulders. Steve’s hands found themselves a place to keep busy, rubbing soothing little circles on James’ waist and it was hard to tell how long they kept up with just kissing and parting the smallest bit to catch their breath but there was a loud and amused sounding cough that resonated behind the two males on the couch, who whipped their heads in the direction of the sound.

David stood there with the widest grin on his face, arms crossed over his chest and he tried so hard to keep back how giddy he was.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have a dire need to ask what Shakespeare mean by, “When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew”?”

Steve physically shrunk, resting his head in embarrassment on Bucky’s shoulder, but the latter seemed quite intrigued by the question.

“Well, it’s a play on words near the end. Love at first sight tends to be portrayed in an extremely vague style, but Shakespeare put it in more understandable yet simple words. Describing that moment of bliss when you see someone and your heart skips a couple beats, you began to heat up, and all you care for is to impress this person to the point of them loving you back is hard to pen down, yeah?” As Bucky spoke, Steve caught on to why David had asked that, and why Bucky was answering the way he was. Sure, he was being his smartass self, like usual. But the way he described the action of falling in love at first sight alluded to what Steve meant.

“So when he said, “And you smiled because you knew,” shows that love at first sight can be mutually shared, just in different ways.” Steve joined in on the English talk, both Bucky and David turning to him with a slightly proud look on their faces.

“Exactly, Mr. Rogers. Does that answer your question, Dave?”

David shot his teacher a sly smile, nodding his head enthusiastically and turned on his heel, heading back to where he came from.

“Thank you, for that. And for helping my dad as well.”

 ~~~

 

It was a long while after that faithful first day, and Steve was happily bustling around the kitchen early in the morning on a Saturday. There was a small layer of snow on the lawn grass and the sun was just peaking out from behind greyish white clouds. He hadn’t slept much, having been working on his latest personal project most of the night and avoiding the stern looks his now _fiancé_ James Barnes would direct at him, urging him to just come to bed and that he could work on it tomorrow.

If Steve would have slept then and there, he wouldn’t have awoken in a happy mood, finished painting resting on the easel he placed in the middle of the living room since he didn’t have a frame for it yet.

Steve could hear some rustling upstairs, meaning David had woken up and was stumbling to the bathroom, still half asleep. There was a thud on the ground a second later and the still groggy voice called down the stairs, “Nothing to worry ‘bout! Just dropped the hairdryer.”

Steve smiled fondly, taking a well-earned sip of his dark roast coffee to keep him awake and he shut his eyes for a minute, taking in the serene atmosphere but snapped out of it as he felt a presence beside him.

There were a couple bangs here and there, a probably still half asleep Bucky trying to bring his brew of coffee to his lips whilst attempting to not doze off again.

“Morning, sleepyhead. Sleep well?” Steve asked at he brim of his mug, taking a long swig, eyes following his lover’s movements. The subtle way he’d lean his head on Steve’s shoulder, the barely there height difference letting Bucky’s head fit perfectly in Steve’s neck, pressing a feather light kiss to the prominent Adam’s Apple.

“Good, how about you, Mr. “I Don’t Seem to Believe in Sleep”?” Steve lazily grinned, smooching the top of Bucky’s head expressively and hummed a quiet tune.

“Well, finished the painting of you and David at like 7 AM. Totally worth it.”

“I saw it while I was trying to not collapse in sleep deprivation, it’s beautiful, honey. We should go get a frame today so we can put it up, yeah?” As James drawled out the last of his sentence, David emerged into the room, making a beeline for the fridge and pulling out the half finished carton of milk, reaching for the cereal on top of the fridge as well. Steve moved to get a bowl from the cupboard above Bucky’s head and Buck reached for a drawer beside him, and without even thinking pulled out a spoon for David.

“Thanks Dad, thanks James.” David quipped, taking the utensils and bowl, assembling his breakfast with ease.

“Pleasure is mine, Dave.” The two of them spoke with newfound comfort, Steve noticed. David switched between calling Bucky Dad and James, he wasn’t used to using one or the other yet. You couldn’t blame him though, getting another dad who also happened to be his teacher was strange. But Bucky urged for David to call him by his first name and even when they were at school, outside the class they would have lunch break together and bonded fast. Steve was thankful for that part; he couldn’t be happier seeing his son treating the new addition to the family with fondness.

When Steve and Bucky were to marry, it’d be like a dream come true. It wasn’t rushed, forced, or anything like that. Steve was genuinely happy and in love, for the first time in a while.

Ever since his last marriage with Marie, Steve had been afraid to love someone again. Yet here he was, sharing his house, his workspace, his _life_ with someone other than his son. It brought this warmth to his heart, the intimacy that had quickly formed between his new family filling the hole that had been left there by his ex-wife.

“Saw you finished the painting, dad. Where we gonna put it?” David asked, mouth half full with cereal and James shot him a look of concern, mumbling something about how he shouldn’t eat with his mouth full unless he was coming across as a knob. David smiled at this, as did Steve.

“Was thinking about putting it up above the piano. Next to the other one, the images clash in this aesthetically pleasing way.”

Steve hoped there wouldn’t be any protest, also hoped there would be some because he was unsure of his own decisions.

“Sounds good, right, David?” James spoke, his affirmative tone sending like electric shocks up and down Steve’s back and he glanced to his son, who nodded in silent agreement.

“Looks like we have something planned for today, then.” Steve mentioned, leaning off the counter to place his now empty mug in the kitchen sink, walking back to where James was still working on finishing his and he placed a chaste kiss to the man’s forehead. Bucky smiled warmly, shifting to catch Steve for a sweet kiss to the lips, smiles still on both their faces.

This was it, this was what Steve had wanted. A happy family, stability.

**Author's Note:**

> w o w if you read till the end, you are my new fave person and i'll send you some virtual hugs and kisses - i was in a writing mood this weekend so guess who wrote two long ass stucky au fics? mE tumblr ruins me, but still follow me there tbh  
> damned-if-i-do-stucky.tumblr.com


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